NEW DELHI: A senior US diplomat gave India until the end of May to finalise a landmark nuclear energy deal with the United States, saying on Wednesday that American lawmakers would need time to debate the pact before their summer break.

The renewed American pressure came as India’s prime minister said he was still trying to overcome fierce domestic opposition to the pact, which both sides had hoped to wrap up before the end of last year.

“We’re kind of playing in overtime right now. There’s a lot of work, not a lot of time,” US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told reporters in New Delhi.

Touted as the foundation of a new partnership between New Delhi and Washington, the deal would reverse three decades of American anti-proliferation policy by allowing the United States to send nuclear fuel and technology to India, even though New Delhi has refused to sign nonproliferation treaties and tested nuclear weapons.

India, in exchange, would allow international inspections of its civilian nuclear reactors. Its leaders say the pact is needed to help meet the growing energy demands of India’s booming economy.

With American elections coming up — and no guarantee the next US administration will keep the deal on the table — Boucher said India needs to complete two final steps by May to give the US Congress enough time to deal with it. Congress breaks for the summer in early July, and many lawmakers will be busy campaigning in the fall.

“You need to get it to Congress by June, which means we need to get some of the other steps completed by the end of May,” said Boucher, who was in New Delhi to discuss the deal and other issues with Indian officials.

Those other steps Boucher referred to are India reaching separate deals with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, a collection of countries that export nuclear material. Both deals are needed before the US Congress can ratify the pact.

“It is still possible to do all these things, but they’re each going to require an accelerated timetable and a lot of effort,” he added.

The nuclear pact faces stiff opposition in India, especially among communist parties that are key to the survival of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government and have threatened to pull their support if he tries to finalise the deal.

The communists say they don’t want closer ties with the United States, and other critics fear the deal could undermine India’s cherished nuclear weapons programme.

Singh said last year he would not risk the stability of his government to push the deal through.

He has since walked a political tightrope — not fully pressing for the pact but nonetheless taking the next step in finalising it by opening talks with the IAEA on an agreement that would allow inspections of Indian reactors.

On Wednesday, he told lawmakers that negotiations with the IAEA were proceeding and that “we also continue to seek the broadest possible consensus within the country to enable the next step to be taken.”

The nuclear deal faces opposition in the US, too. Critics there, including some in Congress, say providing US fuel to India would free up India’s limited domestic supplies of nuclear material for use in atomic weapons, which they argue could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia.—AP